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Economist: 'It's getting harder ... to create jobs' in Florida

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Economist: 'It's getting harder ... to create jobs' in Florida

Jobs aren’t cropping up in Florida quite like they used to, and with public-private partnerships on the chopping block, the tide is unlikely to turn any time soon.

That was the message economist Jerry Parrish had for the 1,000 attendees of the Broward Workshop's “State of the County” forum on Friday.

"It's getting harder and harder to create jobs in this state,” he said, joking that he must have missed the memo to “keep it upbeat.” “You don't have to kill Visit Florida. You don't have to kill Enterprise Florida. Just talking about killing those things is killing jobs.”

Eliminating the partnerships would harm tourism, one of the tri-county region’s most dominant industries, said Parrish, chief economist and director of research for the Florida Chamber Foundation, a business advocacy group.

Despite the battle in Tallahassee, Broward is in good shape, forum speakers said. The county added more than 2,300 high-skill jobs last year, Mayor Barbara Sharief said. Port Everglades recently reached a personal best, seeing a record 55,000 travelers in a single day of 2016. And unemployment hovers below the state average — at 4.5 percent, compared to 5 percent.

But with the fates of Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida’s uncertain, Parrish predicted a less-than-sunny future.

The number of new jobs created statewide peaked in 2015 at nearly 300,000, and has since slid about 18 percent. Parrish said the trend is likely to extend into upcoming years, especially if the legislature downsizes the state's tourism and economic development agencies.

The event was sponsored by the Broward Workshop, a private, nonprofit, non-partisan business organization. Other speakers included George Piro, special agent in charge of the FBI Miami division. Piro identified cyber security as one of the biggest threats to South Florida businesses. The state ranks highest in the country in incidences of identity theft, which often occur through data breaches, he said, adding that he himself has been a target.